In reply to roym:
> When I'm setting up belays at the top of crags I do it in the usual way - sitting on the edge, gear equalised via rope to clove hitches on big carabiner which is attached to my rope loop, carabiner with belay plate also on rope loop. If my second falls I always find that a lot of the weight is on my harness which is usually pretty uncomfortable.
> Is there a way to reduce/remove the weight going onto the harness? (other than using a guide mode direct belay)
I do this all the time and never have any problem with harness loads. I think the trick is to properly tension the tie-in line so that even after stretching, the rope loop doesn't really pull on the harness. I don't find this requires and fiddling at all; I get the strand to the first piece tensioned correctly right away and then set up the rest of the anchor accordingly.
The isolation loop is good for guide belays and facilitates belay escape. To use it with a harness belay, the isolation loop has to be tied very close to the rope tie-in loop, otherwise it will be awkward to manage the belay plate.